Public speaking can be very challenging for most people. Most of us tend to get anxious and nervousness kicks in when we are handed a piece of paper and asked to read it out loud to an audience. While it may sound like it doesn’t a big problem, it can affect your professional and personal life if you don’t overcome the fear.
The most important step in overcoming your fear is to be better prepared. Collect all your thoughts and ideas in a written format so that you can feel relaxed. Make sure that you do research the topic extensively. Try to memorize your thoughts so that you can look into the crowd and read their response and change your tone or presentation accordingly.
Don’t worry about not receiving a positive response from the listeners. People who are taking part in the program are there for a reason, to listen. Try to keep your speech crisp and relevant. Make sure you take short pauses as it makes the audience more attentive to what you’re saying.
It’s always good to see yourself in a mirror and practice your body language and hand movements. Try to record your speech, it helps in understanding where you can improve. Breathing in a calm and relaxed manner will help eliminate any anxiety or fear.
Before you go soak up the spotlight, give your speech to a loved one, a friend or even your pet. It will help you remain calm and you can also get feedback about what questions the audience might ask you and you can have answered prepared in advance.
Do a couple of stretching exercises and breathing exercises just before giving your speech. This will help you get rid of the jitters and also help improve blood circulation in the body, making you feel fresh before your speech.If you love aerated drinks, chocolates or sweet pastries, it would be a good idea to replace them with warm water just before the speech as sugar tends to dry up the mouth and throat.
There could be a very good chance that you get to pick the topic that you will be speaking on. Try to choose a topic that you have prior knowledge in and enjoy speaking about. Make sure it’s a topic that you’d like to share with other people.
One of the most important points to remember is to make sure you pace yourself while speaking. Avoid being too fast as the audience might not be able to understand everything if it’s a new topic to them. Feeling breathless will increase your anxiety and it may impact your speech.
Finally, try and change your nervous energy into a positive one. Many famous personalities who speak in front of millions of people around the world faced similar issues of public speaking. They were able to overcome their fear by remaining positive and working on their shortcoming continuously. Hope you receive a roaring applause the next time you speak at an event.
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